Dubrovnik

View of the Adriatic from the hotel Bellevue lobby.

Wow! This is going to feature lots of photos. The most amazing historic site and city I've ever seen.

Our room with a view.

Crossing the moat to the old city.

Dubrovnik is an ancient walled city on the Adriatic at the southernmost point of Croatia. It has an incredible history going back to the Illyrians.

Who were the Illyrians you ask ? Look it up. No one really knows because they didn't write anything down - but the Greeks and the Romans talked about them and some think that Albanians are their descendants.

It's situated in such a way that it became an important port for trade for Romans and then Venetians and the Ottoman Empire, etc.

Today it's a World heritage site and a wonderfully preserved trip back through the last 1,000 years of Mediterranean history.

Here's our guide, Frano, recommended by our hosts, VBT. We were lucky only six of us were on this tour because he spoke very quietly.

He's telling us about the medieval Fransiscan monastery, the architecture, the frescoes and life in those times.

An old pharmacy shop in the monastery. , There's a very ancient one we weren't allowed to photograph. Mysterious potions were cooked up in their that healed and sometimes killed.

In medieval cities the Fransiscans place would be by one gate to the city and the Dominicans would have a monastery by the other gate on the opposite side. Evidently they didn't get along. Fransiscans found their priests among the commoners while Dominicans drew from the noble class. 

Many centuries later here we are walking around St. Francis place but we're told the Dominicans don't allow tours.

Of course there are lots of churches and a cathedral. One held a treasury (no photos) full of gold and a sick over abundance of relics. Bones of various saints. Skulls encased in gold. Larger cabinets with miscellaneous bones they located after earthquakes or shelling attacks. They couldn't identify exactly who went with which bone so they stuck them together - pretty sure they once were part of a saint. And there was an original Raphael painting in there too!

Dubrovnik had been an independent city-state and republic for centuries. Here is the Rector's palace. The rector was elected for a one month term from one of the noble families, and they rotated through the families so no one family would gain control. One month. No re-election for 3 years. How's that for term limits!

Inside the Rector's palace. There are cells where convicted criminals were locked up. The state provided the cell, the convict's family had to feed him. If you were sentenced to death and a commoner you were hanged outside. Nobility would be beheaded in this courtyard. But according to Frano, they were often allowed to escape as long as they never returned to Dubrovnik. I like that.

Frano (there it's some discussion in or group whether there should be a "c" in his name but I think it wasn't there) was an interesting fellow. Born and raised and still living in the same home in the old city. Very well spoken and informed of the history and politics of his home.

He took us to this spot on a narrow alley where the first state-run adoption service was located. There was a wooden turntable below the window where the child would be placed. The turntable would be rotated and the child handed to the authorities for adoption. The patron saint for that day would determine his/her name.

This door led to the orphanage - if I had paid attention in high school I would be able to translate the Latin.

 Frano was in the city during Croatia 's war for independence and on one particular day in 1991 the Serbs staged a brutal missile attack that lasted more than 12 hours. He was in his home when a missile struck it but was unharmed.

These photos show the destruction to one building and how it's been restored.

He also showed its this ancient Latin graffiti that he claims proves the local kids played football (soccer) in the streets in medieval times. Evidently they made quite a racket in the narrow streets and annoyed the neighbors. 

It says something like "Peace footballers, but someday you too will die." Great sense of humor, those old Croatians.

More to come in Dubrovnik part 2. Now for a swim in the Adriatic!

The Bellevue Hotel is great. 

Perched high on a cliff at the end of a cove, we worried at first about the hike down to the beach and back up to the hotel. Then discovered they bored through the limestone 9 stories and put an elevator in there. And the water is fine!